Responding to the X rating the Movie and Television Review Classification Board gave her upcoming film “Bliss,” lead star Iza Calzado is appealing to the review board to reconsider.
“Mawalang galang lang po sa MTRCB, nais kong lang pong maliwanagan kung ano yung standards natin ng X na pelikula. Bakit yung ibang mga foreign films na mas grabe pa ang mga eksena puwedeng maipalabas sa atin, at ang ‘Bliss’ hindi puwede? Hindi naman po porn ang pelikula namin. Sana kapag napalabas ang pelikula, tayo ang humusga,” she said.
“I’d like to believe that my director—the award winning director of Heneral Luna—is a responsible director. Sana the film [would] be given a chance to be seen by the Filipino audience. Sana rin, this opens a discussion on our film rating standards,” Iza said in a statement furnished to InterAksyon by her manager, Noel Ferrer.
For her portrayal of the film’s ill-fated lead character Jane Ciego, Iza won her first international acting recognition when she was honored with the Yakushi Pearl Award for Best Performer in the Osaka Asian Film Festival in Japan earlier this month.
Ferrer ascribed the X rating to “explicit nudity” and told InterAksyon that the MTRCB committee’s report credited the nudity to Iza and another actress, Adrienne Vergara, who portrays a menacing nurse.
The X rating means the MTRCB deems “Bliss” unfit for public exhibition. However, the producers can appeal the rating and submit the film for reevaluation.
In most cases, producers are forced to edit out the scenes deemed offensive by the review board which might then give the film an R-18 or R-16 rating upon second or third review.
But Iza’s appeal suggests that she prefers “Bliss” to be shown in its entirety and not watered down with further editing.
In an earlier interview with InterAksyon, the film’s director, Jerrold Tarog, declined to discuss the details of the issue just yet.
For its part, the film’s producer TBA Studios furnished InterAksyon with this press statement.
“We understand and respect the decision of the MTRCB reviewing committee regarding the film ‘Bliss.’ We are currently going through the process of submitting an appeal for a second review and hope for a more favorable result.” (E. sallan, Interaksyon)
